By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY — Recognizing that Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II have widespread reputations for holiness and that years of studying their lives and actions have proven their exceptional virtue, Pope Francis announced he would declare his two predecessors saints at a single …

As facilitator of my parish spiritual book club, I am always looking for books to discuss that promise to inform and inspire. Father Robert Hater’s latest book, The Parish Guide to the New Evangelization: An Action Plan for Sharing the Faith, does both.

Few Catholics following the events of the conclave that elected Pope Francis can forget the pontiff’s first public appearance. Standing above St. Peter’s Square, he addressed us as brothers and sisters, and acknowledged the surprise of many that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been elected pope.

By Catholic News Service & CT Staff WASHINGTON — The Little Sisters of the Poor and a Catholic college are the latest Catholic entities to file a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services over its mandate that most religious employers’ health insurance plans cover contraceptives, sterilization and some abortion-inducing …

Staff Report A top American cleric in Rome, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, said in an interview with The Catholic Servant in mid-July that House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should not receive communion because of her continued anti-life political views.

By Lise Alves Catholic News Service SAO PAULO — Brazilian rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura again has been found guilty of masterminding the 2005 assassination of U.S.-born Sister Dorothy Stang. A judge sentenced Moura to 30 years in prison after he was declared guilty just before midnight Sept. 19, the court …

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — In his strongest public words to date on the subject of abortion, Pope Francis affirmed the sacredness of unborn human life and linked its defense to the pursuit of social justice.

By Catholic News Service LINCOLN, Neb. — Lincoln Bishop James D. Conley told Catholics in his diocese that just as he had hoped to do after his installation last November, he has traveled around the 23,800-square-mile diocese, “spending time with you and your families, getting to know you and your …

Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — The Common Core State Standards — expectations for students to master in each grade level — have a love/hate/ambivalent relationship with the American public. The state-led initiative — adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia — has been embraced by many educators, viewed …

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — When Pope Benedict XVI visited ground zero in 2008, he knelt alone and prayed inside the cement-walled crater where the World Trade Center once stood. As a sign of bringing light and hope to the dark memory of 9/11, the pope …